Hopper: Ghost of Quantico
by ReidsFanGirl18
Summary: The BAU and Gibb's team are brought together when it seems that a shooting is connected to a 25yr old NCIS cold case which both teams must work to finally solve before a member of each team is killed by a ghost from his past
1. Chapter 1: Lost and Found

Ghosts

"Look well into thyself. There is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou will always look there". - Marcus Aurelius

Chapter 1: Lost and Found

[Monday March 8, 2009 10:00 AM]

Morgan knew he was extremely late. He should have been at work three hours ago but the power had gone out in his apartment sometime that night and his alarm hadn't gone off at five like it should have. He wondered how much trouble he'd be in with Hotch and Rossie. He could almost hear the reprimand and Reid and JJ laughing at him as he rode the elevator up toward the Bull Pen.

But when he got there the others didn't seem to mind that he was so late. In fact, he quickly realized that they were still a man down. Reid still wasn't there, Morgan quickly realized that the team had likely been searching for them both, found out about the power outage in the process and guessed what happened. If he worked anywhere else this idea would be a long shot at best, but this is what happened when you worked with federal profilers.

"Power went out, I overslept I'm sorry" Morgan told Rossie.

"It's alright, Garcia figured it out and told us, have you seen or heard from Reid since Friday? He's not here yet and he's not answering his cell."

That caught Morgan's attention. To say that beating Reid here was unusual was an understatement even when Morgan was on time. To find out that Reid hadn't shown up at all was reason to worry. Spencer Reid had never once been late to work and in fact had only missed work while being beaten and tortured by an unsub; and then for two weeks two years after that recovering from a new and easily fatal strain of Anthrax. Other than those two incidents he had been here on time every single morning without fail and only been late when they were called in after hours.

"No…no I haven't. It's not like him to be late or A-wall…he's hardly ever late and never quite this late." Morgan said.

"Our thoughts exactly…Garcia tried to locate him but his cell is just plain turned off…" JJ said.

Just then as they stood there Hotch walked up holding Reid's personnel file. He handed it to JJ.

"As much as you guys don't want to hear this we need to start running victimology on him like we would anyone else in a missing-person's case. We need to know who he hangs out with apart from work."

Garcia came upstairs then.

"Guys, I know who Reid hangs out with when he's not with us."

"Who?" Morgan asked.

"Well, as we all know our boy grew up in Vegas however the majority of his family is from right here in Quantico. He has three cousins that based on their combined phone records he's quite close to, as a matter a fact I know one of them because he works with my old roommate from Collage. Their names are Tim, Sarah, and Lindsey McGee"

"Have you contacted them? Do they know where he is?"

"Well that's just it…Lindsey is at school from what I can tell, Sarah is in collage and currently spending a semester abroad in Edinburgh Scotland. Tim is actually a federal agent for NCIS but according to my friend Abby, their forensic Analyst, he hasn't shown up to work yet either. Both of us are currently trying to triangulate his cellphone's location, as soon as either of us know where he or Reid is and why both teams will know." She told them.

"Thank you Garcia, let us know when you get a hit."

Garcia was even more worried than they were, because she knew. She knew even better than they did that Spencer would never miss work unless something was wrong, and even if he did he'd call himself in unless for some reason he couldn't. It was clear that something was stopping him. She hated the direction her brain kept turning as she searched for his and his cousin's cellphone signals, awful visions of something on par with the horror the team often investigated having happened to him. She kept trying to tell herself that no one could ever possibly want to hurt him like that, still…her gut told her otherwise.

After what seemed like an eternity but was really just ten minutes she found one of the cell numbers she was looking for and called it. McGee answered, telling her that he and Spencer were in fact at St. Francis Hospital on Ninth Street, and worse, that Spencer had been shot earlier that morning and had been redlined to the OR upon arrival. He said that he had been with him when it happened and called the ambulance but that he'd rather not give much more detail over the phone.

She rushed upstairs to tell the others.

"Guys…" she said, "I found Reid."

At first they looked thrilled, but then they noticed the look on her face.

"Where is he?" Hotch asked.

"Well sir… I-it's not good… R-Reid was… shot this morning… he's in surgery now."

"What the hell happened? Which hospital?" Morgan asked.

"St. Francis… I finally got a hold of his cousin, Tim, who told me what happened. He's the one who called the ambulance. He's there with Reid now."

[Meanwhile in the waiting room at St. Francis Hospital]

"I can't believe this!" McGee said.

It had been a morning like any other. It was McGee's turn to get coffee, so he'd stopped on his way to work and was surprised to find his cousin at the back of the line. Spencer had then explained that it was also his turn to get coffee. Less than twenty minutes later they had ten cups of coffee between them, the cups labeled according to who liked what by first and last initials written in black sharpie. This had been Spencer's idea.

Then they'd walked out together toward their cars when a large black van had driven by. The driver had aimed a loaded shotgun out of the van's open window and fired two shots before driving off. Spencer had been the one hit but it was impossible to tell who the driver had been aiming at.

Tony and Ziva had arrived quickly after that because they'd heard the shots. McGee called an ambulance while Ziva put pressure on the two bullet wounds in Spencer's chest. When they arrived the EMT's took over where Ziva left off and McGee jumped in the ambulance with his cousin. Ziva grabbed McGee's car and she and tony followed them to the hospital. Spencer had been taken directly to the OR so McGee found himself in the waiting room with Tony and Ziva, and there they still sat 3 hours later has he paced worriedly up and down the length of the room.

"McGee, we're federal agents. You said yourself that your cousin is one of us. As Kate once put it there's a chance one of us could be injured or killed every time we walk through the office door in the morning." Tony replied.

"I know but…"

"Dude…relax. He's gonna be fine."

"How can you be sure? They said it was bad and they aren't saying anything else."

"So?"

"So that usually means it's really bad… like probably fatal bad…"

"Because, he's a federal agent…he's one of us. It takes more than this to bring one of us down. Plus I happen to know that this is the hospital Ducky's been volunteering at, all the docs have to do is get him to recovery safely and alive and Ducky will take over. Don't you agree that if you can actually trust anyone with this it's him?"

"I guess you're right…"


	2. Chapter 2: Cooperation

Chapter 2: Cooperation

20 minutes later the BAU arrived. McGee felt Ziva nudge him when they came into the small waiting room. He rose to meet them.

"Hello, I'm agent Hotchner, this is my team behind me, agents Rossie, Morgan, Prenntis, and JJ."

"Hi, I'm Tim McGee and these two are my teammates Ziva David and Tony Dinozzo" McGee said. The others nodded.

"So what exactly happened?"

"We were getting coffee, every so often we run into each other there. We headed out to our cars when this van showed up with a shotgun hanging out the driver's side window and started firing at us, Spencer was hit twice in the chest but by the time I'd grabbed my weapon the van was gone."

"Could you tell which one of you was the intended target?"

"No…it could have been either of us agent Hotchner."

"Please, it's just Hotch."

McGee nodded.

"Hey, Tony, Ziva, you two should just head to the squad room without me. Gibbs is either really worried or really mad by now."

"We aren't leaving McGee, besides I called Gibbs earlier while you were pacing back and forth and I explained the whole thing."

"You called him Tony?"

"Well yeah, what else was I supposed to do? Anyway McGee he said you're good under rules 2, 18, 40, and 52."

"What are you talking about?" Hotch asked.

"Gibbs, our boss, has this set of rules he lives by and expects those working under him to live by. Some have to do specifically with investigation and some are just really for life in general. Rule 2 is to never leave a man behind, rule 18 is that it's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission, rule 40 is that if it seems like someone's out to get you or your family they probably are, rule 52 is anything for family."

"Ah"

"Yeah, anyway McGee he pretty much ordered us to stick around. This Spencer guy is your family and we're your team, that means that right now no one is going anywhere."

"We need to find out who did this and bring them down…we could you the help of NCIS" Hotch said.

"That's really up to Gibbs not us."

"I understand."

"And I say we're working this one together." Said Gibbs who'd just arrived…he took a seat between Ziva and McGee.

"Thank you Agent Gibbs."

"Don't thank me Hotch, there really isn't a choice. I had our forensic analyst Abby Schiuto start digging. Based on what she's found already it would seem that Agent Reid was almost the Hopper's newest victim."

Hotch's eyes went wide and fear flashed in them for a few seconds but he said nothing.

"Who's the Hopper?" Tony and Morgan both asked at almost exactly the same time.

"The Hopper is one of Quantico's most notorious serial killers. He earned the nickname "The Hopper" because he hops jurisdiction lines as a way to cover his tracks. His victimology switches from navy to civilian with each new target. He uses the fact that our agencies don't usually join forces to make sure he doesn't get caught."

"That is one smart serial killer."

"Unfortunately you're right about that Morgan. Agent Gibbs I'm sorry but I'm a little confused here. Reid doesn't fit The Hopper's victimology. The Hopper is a family annihilator who goes after couples married with children. He kills and rapes the wives first and picks off everyone else living in the house one at a time over days or weeks. Reid doesn't even have a girlfriend and no immediate family."

Gibbs then pulled Hotch into the hallway and out of earshot of the others.

"The Hopper's last victim that we know of was killed 18 years ago. She was a 42 year old mother of two who was also taking care of her nephew at the time. I know because I worked that case as a probie. The victim's name was Leah McGee, her son is in this building and is a member of my team."

"But if agent McGee was one of Leah's children that means that Reid…"

"Is her nephew…the same one who came home from school with his cousins that day and was hit in the head with a baseball bat by the Hopper himself so he would keep quiet. I was one of the Agents who helped make sure that the Hopper never got his hands on those kids. I helped protect them and Leah's husband until the trail went cold and then I helped them re-locate out west. We thought he'd just lost his momentum and given up once his targets left the area…that's why we haven't had any trouble from him in almost 20 years, but think about it…if he did start up again who would be the first people he'd go after? He can't stand leaving his work unfinished."

"If you're right about who he's after and why then the Hopper is a sexual sadist who's also an obsessive compulsive sociopath."

"That about sums it up but I'll leave profiling this monster to you and you're team. The Hopper has terriorized Quantico for the last 25 years and now he's after two of our people. To hell with jurisdiction Hotch. If we don't work together this time it's pretty damn likely that two good agents are going to die."

"I know that and I want to prevent that as much as you do."

"I got my eyes on you, I know that in your probie days you worked under agent Fornnel and that's not exactly to your credit in my eyes."

"You know my fomer superior?"

"Of course, he's the biggest Ass Hole I've ever met."

Hotch laughed. "Exactly, hence why I got out from under his command as fast as possible."

Gibbs nodded and the two re-entered the room, it was another few hours of waiting but at last Ducky came out to say that the surgery was over.

"This young man was very, very lucky. Another millimeter or two closer to his heart and either one of the bullets in his chest could have quite easily been a kill shot. My two biggest worries are the amount of blood loss and the possibility of infection. He is literally being moved to a room as we speak, you can see him once we get him on painkillers and a blood transfusion."

"Thanks Duck, so you're saying he'll be alright?"

"Yes he should be, in a few weeks…I can tell you it'll be a lot better for him if we can get the morphine started before he wakes up."

"Ducky trust me…Spence and morphine do not mix." McGee said.

"Is that what the giant red letters NM on his chart were referring to?" Ducky asked.

"Yes."

"Vikoden it is then." Ducky nodded then left back toward the ICU.

McGee was worried about Spencer but he also knew that he himself was also in danger. It wasn't hard to guess what Gibbs had pulled Hotch out of the room to talk about. McGee had pretended the whole time he'd been with NCIS that he had no idea that Gibbs had been one of the first agents to respond that awful afternoon in March of 1990. In fact he never had and never would forget. That horrible, horrible day was never going to leave him alone. Not until he was sure once and for all that his family was safe again, and the only way to do that was to finally stop The Hopper, permanently.


	3. Chapter 3: Haunted

Chapter 3: Haunted

McGee and Tony remained at the hospital while Ziva, Gibbs, and the others from the BAU went to the squad room to start profiling and hunting the Hopper. McGee sat in a chair he'd pulled up by Spencer's hospital bed while his cousin lay there in a pain-med induced slumber. As much as he wanted him to wake up so he could ask what exactly about what happened Reid's eidetic memory had managed to keep track of that his own average one hadn't; McGee knew full well that he needed this.

"So…how close are the two of you?" Tony asked, having looked up from his film magazine.

"Very…he's like my little brother. It's been that way since… since a long time." McGee answered.

"Since this head-case we're looking for killed your mom?" Tony asked.

"Head-case is putting it mildly…and no…since before that. When Spence was nine and I was sixteen, almost seventeen, my uncle left him and my aunt Dianna, he pretty much abandoned them. Aunt Dianna is schizophrenic; she had a pretty good handle on it though until Uncle Will left. Th-then things got bad again."

"So then what happened?" Tony asked.

"Why do you want to know?" McGee asked.

"I'm trying to understand how the hell my best buddy and his cousin ended prime targets for a known serial killer. Anything that might explain how you two became connected to this creep is going to help."

"Ok, where was I?"

"Things got bad again."

"Right, yeah they did…she was off her meds, she wouldn't do much of anything but sit there at her window and right down everything the voices told her…when she was lucid she and my dad agreed that Spencer should come stay with us till she could get back to the way she was. I was there the day we picked Spencer up at the airport in DC. That was in August of 1989, Mom was killed that next March… it was us, Sarah, Spencer, and me who…found her."

"That had to have been rough…" Tony said.

"Yeah it was…we walked in when it was still happening. That bastard was still in my house… he ran after he realized we were home but Mom was already dead and he hit each of us in the head with a baseball bat on his way out so we'd be unconscious when NCIS and hopefully not remember what we saw… but we do remember. We've all had nightmares ever since…especially Spencer and Sarah… Spence told me once that he'd never get Sarah's screams from that day out of his head… frankly neither will I. After that happened we were put in protective custody, when you live like that all you have is each other."

"Right, I get that. When you someone or something changes those who can adapt find themselves having to, those who can't get hurt. You guys adapted by becoming closer… basically the opposite of what my dad did when my real mom died."

"Yeah that's pretty much it. It's weird but it actually wasn't until Sarah graduated high school that we all finally felt safe again…and now I know that we never were. It my dad moving us all to Nevada after the investigation went cold that kept us safe. Now that we're back in the area and he's finally figured that out it's starting…all over again."

[Meanwhile in the Squad Room]

Ziva sat at her desk combing through 25 years' worth of unsolved murder cases from both the FBI and NCIS, she tried to focus but couldn't. She just couldn't get the image of Agent Reid lying there writhing in pain out of her head, nor could she shake the look on McGee's face as he'd stood there in stunned horror before regaining enough sense to call 911. She'd reacted… she'd kept Reid stable until the EMTs arrived because she was able to. Her time in Mossad had trained her to compartmentalize enough to deal with the situation first…there would be time later to allow the horror of it to wash over her. Yet usually once she did actually have time to process an event emotionally it didn't hit quite this close to home unless she knew the person, it was strange to say the least.

"So what exactly do we have?" Gibbs asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"We have a family annihilating, extremely organized and experienced sexual sadist for an unsub who's apparently out to get Reid for reasons unknown." Moran answered.

"Actually we _do _know why Agent Reid is a target." Gibbs said.

"We do? Why is this guy after him then?"

"This unsub's last known kill was the murder of a navy wife here in Quantico by the name of Leah McGee… she was Reid's aunt and along with his two cousins Reid witnessed her murder." Hotch said.

"That's not in the files I'm looking at…" Morgan said.

"That would be because that particular case fell into NCIS jurisdiction. What we do know is that the unsub waits until the perceived matriarch of the household is home alone but won't be alone for all that long. He then immobilizes, rapes, and stabs her. She is the primary target but in the end he'll kill the entire household if he can."

"Yeah but he doesn't kill the others when they get home. He picks them off one by one over the next several weeks… and his MO for the other victims is completely different and far less personal." Morgan said.

"Yes that's right but what does that tell us about him?"

"Well the fact that he kills these women in their homes instead of a secondary location, the fact that he waits until he knows their family will be home soon to discover the body, and the drawn out time table for killing the family as a whole all suggest that this guy gets off on psychological torture with the rest of the family as opposed to the physical torture he inflicts on the mothers but the way he kills the rest of the family profiles like a hit-man or an LDSK; but LDSKs don't usually torture their victims psychologically or physically."

"I don't think this is an LDSK, he plays too much of a game with his victims. Why the two different MOs? Why does he single out the adult woman in a household and why does he only attack families?" Emily asked.

"Mommy issues?" Morgan suggested.

"Possibly…but then why kill the rest of the family?" JJ asked.

"Perhaps it is to take out the people who would miss the victim the most so that the attempts to find her killer will cease more quickly?" Ziva suggested.

"Could be…" Rossie agreed. "We also know that this unsub cannot stand starting fresh with outstanding unfinished business, and that he's geographically limited to DC and Quantico. That's why he stopped killing after Reid, McGee, and their family left the area."

"So basically this sick bastard thinks killing Reid and McGee will give him back his twisted serial killer mojo" Abby said.

"Maybe we should get McGee and Tony to ask Reid what he remembers about that day." Morgan suggested.

"That depends… do you really think whatever information we might gain from that would be worth making the kid relive that hell?"


	4. Chapter 4: Nightmares

Just as a little Clarification here Spencer is still out cold from surgery and the stuff in italics is the dream/flashback that's going on inside his head and shows the incident from the case 18 years ago from his point of view.

Chapter 4: Nightmare

[Reid]

_This was a dream. It had to be… it was either a dream or one of those "near death" experiences you always heard about. This was the past…but at the same time it wasn't. He was outside his body watching himself; and the Spencer Reid he was watching was a 10 year old boy. He was the only 10 year old in the freshman class at Quantico High School. Reid could see and hear and feel and think everything his younger self did. He was scared because it was time for gym class; the one class where the older kids could actually get away with beating him up…and the one class where Tim was close enough to protect him. _

_Tim was his cousin and a 17 year old senior. Anyone who messed with Spencer pretty much always answered to Tim later; and that was never pretty. Tim acted toward Spencer the way other teens his age might a kid brother. They laughed, they, argued, they fought, and roughhoused, they messed with each other constantly but Tim always made it clear that he really was on Spencer's side and that he was the only one allowed to mess with him. But that was the cause behind pretty much every detention Tim had ever gotten. So Spencer just wanted to make it through the day, just one day, without almost getting his cousin suspended. After all, Tim was still being punished for beating a football player's face in after the guy had tied Spencer to the goal post naked. _

_This particular day passed without incident for once, mainly because the freshman gym class played with the seniors in a game of soccer. Tim's protection certainly hadn't stopped the bullying on the whole but these days, more than halfway, through the school year, the older kids knew that doing anything while Tim was this close by was just plain stupid. This was to the point where the goalie let Spencer kick the ball in to score instead of kicking it back and purposely hitting him in the face with it which was the norm. _

_Gym was the last class of the day, once it was over and the boys had switched out their gym clothes and grabbed their backpacks they headed out toward Tim's pickup truck, blue 1957 Chevy. Once they were inside Tim drove to the elementary school to pick up Sarah. Sarah was Tim's baby sister; she was four years younger than Spencer and currently in first grade. _

_Sarah was also far above average academically and like Spencer, she was ridiculed for it. Just another reason a part of Spencer wished he was normal, or at least closer to it, if he was normal they'd be in the same school and he could protect her the way Tim protected him in high school. She came out of the school clutching her backpack straps and ran toward the truck as her wavy strawberry-blond hair bounced delicately behind her. Her large hazel eyes were fixated on the faces of her brother and cousin sitting in the tuck because to her the sight of them represented refuge, friendship, and acceptance. _

_When she reached the truck she climbed in the backseat and slid behind Spencer as Tim pulled out of the school parking lot and started driving toward the residential area of the Quantico Naval Base._

_Spencer's uncle Frank was a US admiral stationed at the base in Quantico, his aunt Leah was a Librarian in DC, the two had invited him to stay with them the previous summer after his dad left to get him out of Vegas for a while. _

_When they came in view of the house Spencer knew something was off. He could tell Tim knew it too. The front door was wide open. They went in single file walking slowly through the mudroom and the hallway, Sarah slipped by the boys and ran further into the house. _

"_Mommy! Mommy where are you?" _

_The next thing Spencer heard was a combination of loud footsteps and Sarah screaming… after that a dark figure ran by him and there was a wave of pain in the side of his head as if he'd been hit with something; then everything went black. _

[Back at the hospital]

Spencer was still unconscious but he was starting to come out of it, at least…McGee thought so. The sedatives had worn off and it seemed that now he had entered an uneasy REM sleep. The nurse came and changed the IV drip supplying him with pain meds. According to the monitors his vitals were slightly elevated but stable.

Less than a half hour later the monitors started beeping and the readings they were showing were extremely unstable, Spencer was shaking violently, almost convulsing.

"DUCKY GET IN HERE! SOMETHING'S WRONG!"

Ducky rushed in with a cart of supplies.

"He's in anaphylactic shock, McGee what do you know of that would do this to him?"

"M-Morphine…that's the only thing that I know of."

Ducky pulled one of the IVs out of his arm and stuck an eppy-pen into the wound. Within minutes he started to stabilize again.

[Reid]

"_Ready…Clear! Come on Kid stay with me…Clear!" Reid felt the shock paddles on his chest. _

"_He's back." _

"_Thank God." _

"_Hey kid…you ok?" Spencer heard the voice calling before he opened his eyes. When he did he found himself on the center of a set of three gernies, Tim and Sarah were on either side of him. _

"_W-what happened?" _

"_Our victim is Leah McGee, the admiral's wife." He heard a man's voice say, but the meaning of the words didn't reach him until for the second time he heard Sarah start screaming. _

"_W-where is Aunt Leah?"_

"_Where's my mom?" Tim asked. _

"_I'm sorry kids…she's gone."_

"_Oh God." _

"_We need to know what exactly you three saw… it'll help us find her killer so we can make sure that person pays for this; but in the meantime we're here to protect you." _

"_Who are you?" Tim asked. _

"_My name is Special Agent Gibbs, my partner Special Agent Franks is processing the scene to see if this guy left anything behind." _

_Before Gibbs could say anything more Spencer came face to face with a kind-looking middle aged doctor. _

"_Hello little boy, I'm Dr. Mallard, but you can call me Ducky…all my friends do. May I ask what your name is?" Ducky asked. _

"_It's S-spencer." _

_Ducky took out a small flashlight. _

"_Well Spencer I need you to follow my light with your eyes. Can you do that for me?" _

_Spencer nodded and followed the glow of the flashlight. _

"_Good, good…a bit of a concussion but no obvious permanent damage." _

[present day]

"W-what happened?" Reid asked as he finally started to come to.

"Welcome back Spence." McGee said.

"Tim…what are you doing here?"

"I'm your cousin, where else would I be?" McGee asked, Reid smiled exhaustedly.


	5. Chapter 5: Fear and Grief

Chapter 5: Fear and Grief

[the squad room]

"Man I want this guy's head on a stick!" Morgan exclaimed.

They'd been working through the previous Hopper murders for hours now and each case was just making them all angrier and angrier.

"Believe me I do too agent Morgan but we have to find him first." Gibb's said.

"And how do we do that? Geographic profiling is usually Reid's area." Emily said.

"We can start by limiting our suspect pool, we're looking for a male in his 50s or 60s with clearance that gets him onto the naval base. He probably is or was navy at one time and has likely been stationed at the Quantico base throughout his career." Hotch pointed out.

"How can we be sure he was stationed at Quantico?" JJ asked.

"Because," Gibbs said, "The McGee family lived on base…so has every other navy family the Hopper has targeted over the years. Those bases are fairly close-knit communities, you don't just walk into one of their houses without raising red flags with the others unless you're a fixture in the area. No, this guy knew the base and the people living there like the back of his hand. There's no way around that, the gap in his kills might mean that he was temporarily reassigned."

"It's late, we can start running down the suspect list in the morning, go home, get some rest." Hotch said and Gibbs nodded in agreement.

But Ziva wasn't going home, instead she drove to the hospital. Gibb's had instructed at least one agent from either team be here at all times, Tony had been here more than long enough to get bored and start antagonizing people just for something to do. So she switched places with him when she saw him at the water cooler in the hallway, she entered Reid's hospital room to find him asleep and McGee lost in thought.

"McGee?"

"Wha…oh…hey Ziva…"

"Tony went home, I'm staying tonight."

McGee nodded.

"So…how is he?" Ziva asked looking over at Spencer.

"Stable…he was awake for a couple hours earlier but he's passed out again since then."

"That's probably normal…" she said.

"yeah."

[Reid]

_In the days that followed Aunt Leah's murder Uncle Frank had tried to keep things as normal as possible. Though now they were accompanied everywhere by an NCIS agent. _

_That Sunday Tim taught Spencer how to tie a tie, and then straightened it for him as they prepared for a funeral. At the cemetery Spencer followed the procession and watched as Uncle Frank, Tim, and several of Uncle Frank's squad mates carried the coffin to the burial spot. _

_Spencer closed his eyes trying to pretend that none of this was happening but Sarah's small pale hand in his, squeezing in grief and pain made this impossible. It was all he could do to squeeze back reassuringly. _

"_I'm scared Spencer, if the bad man can get to us on base he can get to us anywhere." _

"_That's what the agents are around for, to make sure he doesn't" he reminded her._

"_Why'd he have to be so mean? What did mommy ever do to him?" she asked. _

_Kids her age tended to think that anyone older than them knew everything, which was far from the truth even in this case. How could he possibly explain to her why this had happened when he didn't understand it himself?_

_He looked over at his cousin, her normally sweet, innocent face was contorted by horror and hopelessness, her eyes, the same ones that normally seemed to sparkle and lit up even more when she read Shakespeare were sad and lifeless and an endless stream of silent tears s. Spencer's free hand clenched in an angry fist. How dare this guy hurt their family? How dare he make Sarah cry? _

[present day]

"So, how far did the others get with the case?" McGee asked.

"We've narrowed it down to a suspect pool, we'll form and start working through the list in the morning." She sad before dozing off…the day had been long and hard at best. It wasn't long before McGee also nodded off.

[The Squad Room, 7:00 AM March 9, 2009]

Tony got into the elevator with Agents Morgan and Prentiss from the BAU, it felt weird having them here but he knew that for once the FBI and NCIS were on the same side. He pushed the button that would take them down to autopsy and the lab.

"Why are we going down?" Morgan asked. "I thought the squad room was on the 6th floor."

"It is." Tony told him. "But Gibbs and Hotch want Garcia and Abby's suspect list and they want us to talk to Ducky about the original crime scene. I got the call this morning. We go get the list, I go take it upstairs and then you two get to go interview Ducky and Frank."

"Who's Frank?" Emily asked.

"Frank is McGee's father…he was honorably discharged from the marine core a year ago and now lives with his second wife and their daughter in an old farmhouse outside of DC."

"Ah"

"Hopefully between the two of them we can gain something that we can use to narrow the suspect list even more."

3 hours later they had 15 suspects. Meanwhile Morgan was at Reid's uncle's house.

"Mr. McGee, open up! This is Agent Derek Morgan FBI!"

A tall, built man with graying brown hair and a stern face opened the door. Morgan showed him his badge.

"Come on in." He said.

Morgan did.

"FBI huh? Do ya know my nephew by any chance?" Frank asked.

Morgan was staring at the pictures on the walls. The earliest was a black and white photo from the 50s of Reid's mom and this man when they were kids. Then there were others all around…all featuring milestones in the lives of four specific children including school pictures several of which were of Reid. The weird thing was that for all this attention to family there was not a single family photo to be seen.

"Yes sir, this has to do with him actually…" Morgan responded.

"Just what kind of trouble has that boy gotten himself into now?"

"He was…shot yesterday sir…the same MO as other killings by the murderer of your first wife."

"Good Lord!" Frank swore. "I thought we'd finally put this whole nightmare behind us."

"Are you close to him sir?" Morgan asked. "To Spencer I mean."

"No, not very. That's not to say I don't care 'bout him though. I tried, believe me… but navy life, football, and hunting are really all I know. Not just Spencer but Tim and Sarah as well, they were always more interested in computers and book learning than those things. They're like my sister, Diana. I just couldn't connect with them. But at least Spencer has the loyalty and manners to call once in a while. Tim will once in a blue moon and Sarah flat out hates me."

"Why does she hate you?"

"For marrying somebody else after her Mama died…once she left for Collage she cut me out entirely but she still knows the boys a hell of a lot better than I do."


	6. Chapter 6: Time Clock

Chapter 6: Time Clock

[Frank's House]

"More specifically Mr. McGee I need you to tell me if you saw anything or anyone new close to your house on or around the day your wife was killed."

"Well yeah as a matter of fact, Lance Corporal Greg Bates had just been transferred in. He was from this area and had gone through basic training on base at Quantico but he'd requested a transfer six years earlier. He decided he didn't like LA and transferred back. But he's probably not your guy… he was as gentle off the battlefield as he was fierce on it."

"I'm sorry sir but we can't rule anyone out." Morgan said then he got up and left.

When he got into his car he called Garcia and told her to look up travel, and address records for Greg Bates.

"When we know you'll know. Garcia Out"

[Back at the Hospital]

Ziva was thoroughly enjoying the cup of green jello that had been brought in on Reid's breakfast tray.

"Ziva what are you doing? First of all he's going to want that, and second Jello isn't exactly Kosher. Do you have any clue what you're eating?" McGee asked.

Reid stirred. His eyes opened slowly and glanced around the room. "Is…that Jello…? Is there any more jello…? I love Jello…"

"No but there is broth…crackers…and scrambled eggs…" Ziva said.

"How do you feel today Spence?" McGee asked.

"Tired…sore…hungry…"

"I told you he'd want the jello."

"Sh-she's ok…just give me the eggs…" Reid said.

McGee handed him the plate of eggs, surprisingly he managed to eat them all.

"So…what exactly happened? I know I got shot but…by who…?" Reid asked.

"Actually…we have reason to believe you were shot by the Hopper…" McGee told him.

Reid tensed nervously.

"But if that's true I'm not the only one he's after…he'll be after you, and uncle Frank…"

"I know…both our teams are on this one…it'll be ok…you'll see…" McGee said reassuringly.

"We…we gotta stop him this time…" Spencer said, by now the stress of this conversation was driving the monitors crazy.

"Spence…we…we as in everyone else…are going to find him and bring him down… you need to relax before you hurt yourself… he gets off on our fear and pain. By letting him get to you like this you're giving him exactly what he wants and if he still gets to kill you because you stress yourself out when you're not physically up to it that's just a bonus."

At that he started to calm down.

"I hate being off this case." Reid said.

"I know Spencer, believe me, I get it, but you're in no condition to even get up or be left alone, let alone field work. We'll get him I swear to you…" McGee told him.

"A-alright"

[Squad Room]

"So what did you find out from the Uncle? Hotch asked.

"He gave me the name of a guy who does fit several aspects of the profile…but he also insists that the dude's not the violent type." Morgan said.

"Alright, have Garcia and Abby run a background check on him anyway and go pull Agent David from the hospital it's your rotation on the protection detail."

"Consider it done Hotch."

Morgan called the girls on his way to the hospital and told them about Greg bates. He really hoped that this was their guy and that soon they could nail him, not just for the recent attack on Reid but for all the murders, especially the murder of Leah McGee. From what Morgan could tell that murder had ripped the family apart and destroyed three people's childhoods. It made his blood boil and he just wanted to put a bullet through the guy's head. None of it was fair. One thing was for sure, if this unsub wanted to hurt them again he'd have to go through Morgan first, and that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to let this creep within five miles or Reid or his family if he could help it.

An hour later Morgan sat in Reid's hospital room across from McGee. He looked… kind of depressed. Reid was asleep so McGee was just sitting there staring at nothing.

"You ok over there?"

"yeah…"

"You don't look ok…you look like you got something on your mind…"

"I…I don't know…"

"McGee, I realize that I hardly know you and it's probably none of my business… but you can talk to me if you want to…"

"It's just… I'm the oldest you know… I was the big brother type… and in Spencer's case when we were in high school… his personal body guard. It's…just hard knowing that I was there and I still couldn't stop this from happening. I know we're both federal agents but… he's still my cousin and he's always going to be more like a little brother to me than anything else. I feel like a really failed him here."

"I can understand that… believe me I know that feeling… but this was not your fault. There's only one person at fault for this and it's the guy who shot at you two."

"Do you know why Spencer was even in Quantico?"

"Yeah, your parents invited him after his dad left."

"Yes, they did. They knew that… a nine year-old boy having to live with a mom who was in the middle of a mental breakdown and a very fresh divorce wasn't healthy. They asked Aunt Diana to let him come so we could give him a chance to have a more stable childhood again… this guy… completely ruined all of that… and he destroyed that chance for my sister as well. She was forced to grow up knowing that there was a bad man out there who took her mommy away and who wanted to kill her too and everyone she loved. A six year old shouldn't even have a clue that people like that exist yet."

"You're right, she shouldn't have at that age…" Morgan said.

"To this day all three of us still have nightmares about what we found when we got home… sometimes I go whole weeks without being able to sleep… and it's actually even worse for the others." McGee told him…he wanted to say more but a nurse came in to switch out the IVs again.

Once again it wasn't long after that before Reid started to convulse.

"What the hell is going on?" Morgan yelled.

"It's the IV… Take it out now! The one that has the pain meds, take it out and put pressure on it! I'll be right back." McGee said. He ran to the nurses' station but found no one there so he just grabbed what he needed from their supplies. He found Morgan holding Spencer down. He stuck the pen into the wound and injected its contents into his cousin's arm.

"Stay with him, I'm gonna go tell the others about this… once is a mistake, twice with the same patient and using the same medication is poisoning…"


	7. Chapter 7: Narrowing the Field

Chapter 7: Narrowing the Field

"Are you sure about this Morgan?" Hotch asked when Morgan called to tell him that Reid had been poisoned.

"Absolutely Hotch, who makes that kind of mistake twice with the same patient? Either this nurse really sucks at her job or this was no accident." Morgan told him.

"You may be right, but you know what this tells us…" Hotch said.

"It means that the unsub is somehow aware of Reid's reaction to morphine and knows that it actually has to enter his system to do that." Morgan said.

"Which means that he either knows the family well enough to know, has spoken to someone who did know, or has access to Reid's medical records." Hotch added.

"He also must have hospital access or be working with someone who does, just like the naval base, not everyone would have had the access or the training to poison that IV and was smart enough to make sure the poisoning was target specific. That morphine wouldn't have done any harm to anyone else here." Morgan replied.

"So we can narrow our suspect list by cross-checking naval history with a medical background…" Hotch said.

"Hotch he's also changed his MO from shooting to poisoning, you know what that means."

"He's escalating and changing his MO out of desperation. This isn't about reliving the experience of earlier kills by repeating the circumstances anymore, the objective of killing, and more specifically killing the targets he failed to all those years ago has become more important to him than how he does it." Hotch said.

"Is this good or bad?" Morgan asked.

"Actually it's both. It's good because he's bound to get much more sloppy as he's forced to get bolder and bolder to accomplish his ends, but it's also bad because it puts Reid and McGee at much more risk the more active and unpredictable he becomes."

"So what's our next move?" Morgan asked.

"The next time that nurse comes in I want you to get a good look at her name tag. Then call Abby and Garcia and get them to cross-check her against our remaining suspects. She probably has no clue that she's a part of this but if that's true then it's likely somehow connected to our unsub. But whatever you do… Do. Not. Seek. Her. Out. Directly. If she is knowingly involved and has been coerced into doing this we cannot let her know we're onto whoever it is who put her up to it. "

"Right, I got it Hotch."

"Oh and Moran… before you go…how is he?"

"Stable but fragile… his body is still too weak to cope with much if any kind of emotional stress, the doc seems to think that had he not been poisoned twice he could have actually been discharged already… which also gave me an idea."

"I'm listening"

"Well think about it, the unsub is either poisoning Reid himself or getting someone to do it for him, but if he's smart enough for that he has to know that Reid's right where he needs to be to be saved from dying from the reaction."

"Go on…"

"What if the unsub isn't doing this to kill Reid? We know that's his eventual goal but what if he's actually using the morphine to stunt his recovery to limit his ability to help with the investigation?"

"Because even if Reid didn't witness much he still saw and heard something that day…"

"And if anybody who was actually there could tell us any details of what happened this far out from the murder itself it would be Reid."

"Exactly."

[Abby's Lab]

After he hung up with Hotch Morgan had called the lab to tell them what he and Hotch had added to the profile.

"Well now that you told us that we have some good news and some bad news." Abby said.

"Talk to me ladies…"

"Well the good news is that intel narrows our list of possible Hoppers from over 300 to 45…and it keeps Greg Bates as our prime suspect because turns out he was a naval medic… add that to the fact that his stationing history puts him in Quantico for every single one of the 80 killings and it just so happens that the 7 year spell of inactivity coincides exactly with his transfer to LA and back on both ends he's looking more and more like our guy." Garcia said.

"So what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that even though he worked as a hospitalist at St. Francis after he was discharged from the navy in 1999 he retired altogether 4 years ago and from the looks of it he hasn't set foot at that hospital since then." Abby said.

"Does he have any current known associates who also have medical backgrounds?"

"We'll check."

"Thanks ladies."

Morgan hung up. Abby was pacing and put her head in her hands in frustration

"Abby…what's wrong?" Garcia asked.

"What do you think? We're closing in on this guy but he's still a step ahead of us… he has been this whole time. Reid's almost died 3 different times in the past 48 hours!"

"You hardly know him."

"True but I do know McGee and I know how close they are… if Spencer dies… I don't even want to think about it… it would be like… me and Kate… 1000 times over. I can't let this guy put him through that. I can't, I won't. I refuse to! This son of a bitch is going down before he can hurt either one of them, even if I have to kill him myself."

"Abby? Who's Kate?" Garcia asked.

"Special Agent Katelyn Todd, she was one of my best friends… almost as close as you and I… she was killed in the line of duty three years ago. She and I… we became like sisters… and to this day it hurts… it really, really, hurts. I don't know Reid personally you're right. But I've heard plenty about him from McGee, more than enough that it doesn't take a profiler to see that they're exactly like brothers… in fact closer than a lot of brothers I know. I wouldn't wish what happened to me and to this team, this family, when Kate was killed on anyone. Those to have already felt that and worse, because of what this guy did to them… I won't let it happen again and I'll be damned if I let this creep do to you guys what Kate's killer did to us. That guy is dead now, which is exactly where the Hopper belongs."

Garcia nodded. "Let's get back to work. What did you get on the ballistics?"

Abby wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes and went over to her lab table where the two slugs that hit Reid sat in specimen containers. "Well I'd need the actual weapon to test for an exact match but I do know for a fact that he's using a Winchester Rifle which tells us this is probably his choice gun. Most people who use Winchesters swear by them and would only use anything else if they needed something easier to disguise or conceal."


	8. Chapter 8: Closing In

Chapter 8: Closing In

[The Lab]

"Ok, checking rifle types used in previous Hopper murders… and yes this guy has used Winchesters for at least as long as he's been killing…" Garcia said as she typed. "Cross checking registered Winchester owners against our suspect list and that brings us down to ten. Now cross checking against any connection to Judy Brown…that nurse that knowingly or unknowingly poisoned Reid…"

[The Hospital]

It was time for JJ to take over for Morgan, but as she walked through the hospital toward Spencer's room she wasn't sure she could do this. She was closer to him than pretty much anyone else on the team. This felt even worse than the anthrax incident; because they had a definite and predictable enemy then… they had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen and how much time they had. The uncertainty of this was terrible…

She found Morgan at the water-cooler across from Reid's room. He looked worn out and she guessed that he hadn't slept or even relaxed for a moment since coming here.

"Hey…it's my turn; they need you back on base."

"Ok, what have they got…?"

"They've narrowed the suspect list down to just a few people compared with where they started from and that guy Reid's uncle told you about fits the profile perfectly so they're trying to track him down but he's been off the navy's radar since he was discharged 10 years back and retired from being a civilian doctor 6 years later and he doesn't have a single credit card in his name or even mail service so he's being difficult to track down."

"Makes sense, you don't survive this long as a murderer this active without learning to stay under the radar…"

"Unfortunately that's true…"

"Well I'd better head out now." Morgan said and he started to walk away.

"Morgan wait! One more thing."

"What is it JJ?

"Is he…will Spence be ok?"

"You'll see for yourself but yeah he should be…as long as the unsub doesn't take another crack at killing him…"

She went in and found him in considerably better shape than when she'd seen him when he'd just come out of surgery. Last time she'd seen corpses that looked healthier, now though color had returned to his skin, he wasn't anywhere near as swollen and she didn't know how but she could tell he was in a lot less pain.

She saw that McGee was fast asleep in his chair, from the looks of things he needed it… her maternal instincts took over and she gently brushed the hair out of both their faces. She then took over the chair that Morgan has occupied.

[Squad Room]

"Ok I'm a deranged and increasingly desperate serial killer who needs all of my current targets dead before I can move on but so far I've failed time and time again… so what's my end game?" Hotch asked.

"If he's become frustrated enough to change his MO you know what the next phase is…" Emily said.

"Yeah, pretty soon his compulsion to kill and need for a clean slate will force him to become bolder. His MO in killing the women he targets is very direct and gives him a lot of contact. But up until now the methods to his other killings and the attempts he's made on Reid's life were distant… like he lacked the confidence or will to meet his other targets dead on… but if that continues to fail he'll be forced to switch to a bolder and more direct approach. He might even try to get close enough to shoot them at close range or stab them like he did the women…" Morgan said.

"But he's still organized and intelligent… there's still one of his targets out there that would be much easier for him to get at right now… he's probably going there first." Emily said.

"You mean he's gonna go after Admiral McGee right?" Morgan asked.

"Probably, which means that we need to find him and bring him down before he can make that move…" Gibbs said.

"But Abby and Garcia haven't found his address yet." Ziva said.

"Oh they'll get it for us, those two are the best."

10 minutes later they had it. He lived at 2642 Jacksonpark Road in Quantico, less than a mile outside the Quantico Naval base. The combined team took off for the location and found a small innocuous looking white house. It was old but well kept, and at first glance one would assume it was the home of some upper-middle class family that never let anything be out of place. It was overall non-threatening.

Never the less they entered cautiously, with their weapons out. But as they cleared room after room, it became apparent that there was no one home.

"Damn it! We must have missed him!" Morgan exclaimed when he cleared the final room.

"So if he's not here than where's he headed now? What's his next move?"

"That's what we have to find out and we may not have a whole lot of time. Tear the place apart until we find a clue to where he's going." Hotch said.

They did. They went through every nook and cranny and searched under, in, and behind every piece of furniture in the house but they came up empty.

"Sheesh, we knew this guy pretty much lived off the grid but it's like all this is to him is a bed and a kitchen, there's no sense at all of who this guy is from his house at all."

"I think I know where he's going…" Ziva said.

"Where?"

"We know that he is getting more desperate and far less careful…he is going to put phase one of his endgame into action… he's going to attack his targets head on. He's going to the hospital."

"But the hospital is a lot more secure than Admiral McGee's farmhouse…" Morgan said.

"True, that is very true. However, the fact is, and even more so right now, that physically speaking Reid and McGee are much weaker, easier targets than McGee's father."


	9. Chapter 9: Moving Target

**I apologize for the slow update, I've been busy this weekend**

Chapter 9: Moving Target

"We have to warn McGee and JJ, chances are he's going to be there before we are." Morgan said.

Ziva called McGee's cellphone. "McGee, are you there?"

"Yeah, Ziva what's going on?"

"The Hopper is coming for the both of you, he is most likely already on his way to that hospital."

"What do we do?"

"I do not know. You have to protect the both of you, somehow. We did not have time to come up with a plan to give you. We had to warn you. Just… think of something."

"Ok, I will." McGee hung up

[the hospital]

"JJ we have a major problem." McGee said.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"He's on his way here. The Hopper, he's coming for us."

"We have to get Spence out of here."

"How do we do that? They aren't going to discharge him…"

"No… but they might release him into protective custody with a doctor nearby. Is there any chance we could get our hands on a secure vehicle that had medical supplies in it?"

"Ducky's autopsy truck doubles as an ambulance and it's armored with bomb-proof glass…"

"That's perfect!"

It took a lot of negotiating but JJ did convince the hospital to release him. Once they had McGee shook him to wake him up. Ducky was waiting out front.

"Huh? What's going on?" Reid asked.

"The Hopper is coming here…we've got to get out of here, now." McGee replied.

"How are we getting out of here?"

"It's all good, we have a plan Spence." JJ told him.

Thanks to the Vikoden in his system Reid could barely walk, if he'd have tried he'd have been too dizzy to take more than a few steps before falling. McGee and JJ kept him upright between them. Together the three of them made into the back of Ducky's autopsy truck. They then drove as far from the hospital as they could get.

As they drove away, the others were headed toward the hospital to intercept him and end this. But when they arrived he was already gone. The receptionist told them that they had only missed him by a quarter of an hour.

"I'm sorry but… he just seemed so…normal that I didn't think to call security." She said.

"You couldn't have known what he was. He's lasted this long because he fits in. He doesn't raise suspicion. You had no idea so there was nothing you could have done. Our friends are safely away from here and if he'd thought you were on to him he might've killed you." Hotch told her, she nodded and showed them the security tapes from the parking lot.

The tape showed the hopper in an old navy uniform pulling out and heading in the opposite direction of his house.

[meanwhile at Admiral McGee's farmhouse]

The admiral sat at his kitchen table loading and cleaning his hunting rifle. He knew exactly what he had to do. He was going to end this once and for all, before someone else was killed or hospitalized. It was time to avenge what the bastard had done to Leah and bring some peace to their children. He'd destroyed their lives and almost destroyed their family. Now that he was at it again the admiral knew he couldn't just sit on the sidelines anymore. The time for that had long passed. He was going to kill the bastard, and, he hoped, be killed himself… If the Hopper killed him then Tim, Sarah, Diana, and Spencer could receive his navy benefits. That way something good could come of all this. He'd be no use to them alive when all this was said and done. He just hoped neither one of them had to arrest him.


	10. Chapter 10: Showdown

Chapter 10: Showdown

[The truck]

They were on the highway going from the hospital in Quantico to the Navy yard in DC. Ducky had the sirens blaring. But they knew they had very little time before the unsubfigured out that they had left. Once he did they had no way at all of knowing just how long they had until he found them again.

"Ducky can you go any faster?" McGee asked.

"Certainly."

They felt him punch the gas peddle and the truck sped up. Ducky also turned the sirens on so that people around them would let them pass.

At last they made it to Gibbs's house.

"There's no lock on this door." JJ commented, noticing that no key was required.

"Yeah…Gibbs says that a gun is more useful than any lock." McGee said as he swung Gibb's front door wide open so that JJ and Ducky could get Spencer inside.

One they were all in they shut the door tightly behind them and moved Gibb's couch in front of it so that it couldn't be opened from the outside. McGee just really hoped this worked. They helped Reid into the armchair, drew their weapons and waited.

[the hospital]

"So where is he going now?" Ziva asked.

"My guess is that he's going to follow them." Hotch said.

"And where did they go?" She asked.

"My house." Gibbs said. "McGee is executing emergency plan Alpha."

"What's plan Alpha?" Hotch asked.

"Go to Gibbs's place, barricade the door and wait either for trouble or backup. Weapons drawn. Be ready to shoot anyone who makes it through the door."

"Well we're their backup…lets go finish this."

But Admiral McGee was already almost there, and so was the Hopper.

Inside the house the others heard someone trying to bash the door open. Admiral McGee came in through the back door with his loaded rifle in hand.

"Uncle Frank? What are you doing here?" Reid asked.

"I'm here to finish this Spencer, once and for all." He turned to McGee and JJ, "Tim, get your cousin down to the basement and stay there, all of you. I'll take care of this."

McGee nodded. And they moved down the basement and sat in the boat Gibbs was currently working on and almost finished with.

"So…" Reid asked, "this is what Gibbs does?"

"Yep."

"How does he get the boat out of here?"

"That Spencer, is a mystery I doubt even you could figure out."

[On the Ground floor]

When the others pulled up Gibb's front door had been smashed in and laid in pieces strewn about the furniture that had been pushed in front of it. The Hopper was in the house, they just didn't know where.

"Move away from that door old man."

"Hell no you murdering sonofabitch. You killed my wife, you hurt my nephew, you ain't getting near him again and you sure as hell ain't getting at my son." They heard Admiral McGee yell from the hallway.

"Reid McGee and JJ must be in my basement… go around back and use the door in the garage…back them up." Gibbs whispered; Morgan obeyed.

The rest of them moved in behind the Hopper, moving as silently as they possibly could.

The Admiral had the barrel of his Winchester pointed directly at the Hopper's head.

"Stand down Admiral, drop the gun and fall back." Gibbs said. The Hopper turned and saw that he was surrounded from behind.

"There's nowhere left to run or hide Bates." Hotch said.

"He killed my wife! He killed Leah! He tried to kill Spencer!" the Admiral screamed.

"We know that sir…and believe me, we're going to make sure he pays for all of it, but there's no sense in you letting him destroy your life too." Prentiss told him.

"He already has! The love of my life is dead, my daughter hates me! What could he possibly take from me now that he hasn't already? There's nothing left!"

Suddenly bates took aim with his own rifle and shot Admiral McGee in the chest. Two things happened very fast… Rossie put pressure on the admiral's wound and called for an ambulance, and Gibbs and Tony handcuffed Greg Bates and dragged him out of the house.

[4 days later]

Frank McGee and bled out and died in the ambulance before he ever reached the hospital. Reid was out of the hospital and off the Vikoden. On this cloudy spring morning both teams in addition to Sarah, and Reid's parents, were gathered for his funeral. Also in attendance were Frank's second wife, Martha, and their twelve year-old daughter Lindsey.

Although Sarah hadn't spoken to her father the past few years, she was in tears.

It was McGee who spoke.

"Thank you, everyone who came today, um… my dad was… just about the bravest man I've ever met. He was…a hero in more ways than one and a damn good marine. Someone taught me that…that there is no such thing as an ex-marine. I think that the way Dad finally lost his life is evidence of that. He gave absolutely everything, to protect his country and his family. In the end this is why he's not here today. My dad and I never quite saw eye to eye…we weren't the closest… but I loved him and I know he loved us, myself, my aunt, my sisters, my cousin, my aunt, and though she was taken from us years ago…my mom. S-Semprify." He finished, almost in tears.

Taps was played on bugles, the flag in the cemetery flew at half mast and swayed gently in the spring breeze. As the music went on those who were there stood at silent attention in respect for a fallen hero until it ended. When the marines who'd arrived from the VFW stopped playing their sorrowful tune Sarah took the microphone from her brother. Upon her arrival home from Scotland she'd been filled in on the events of the past week and had been asked to sing at her father's funeral, by none other than the step-mother she despised. She had agreed for the sake of her brother and cousin and for her mother's memory though it bothered her that Martha had been the one to ask.

She'd picked out two hymns that seemed appropriate given the circumstances and it took a moment but eventually she was able to bury her tears and let her angelic voice ring out with a grief-stricken edge to words that were not usually so depressing.

When at last she'd finished each mourner placed a single red rose on the coffin lid and the VFW presented Martha with a flag, which she then handed to Sarah who accepted it more out of surprise than anything else. For 15 of the last 20 years Sarah has thought her father a traitor and her step-mother an unwelcome and arrogant intrusion out to destroy her own mother's memory.

For just as long Martha had known that Sarah hated her and it pained her to know that she had cost her husband a relationship with his daughter. But maybe now things could be different. Maybe this time when Martha explained that she hadn't come into their family to hurt them Sarah would listen. She opened her mouth to say exactly that but before she could say a word Sarah walked away to put the flag in her car.

An hour later she, McGee, and Reid stood together having gravitated inward for reasons none of them understood.

Gibbs came up to them and hugged McGee.

"Boss?" he asked.

Gibb's let go.

"I wish this could've ended better McGee."

"Boss don't…"

"The truth is I failed you kids, all of you. If I'd only caught the bastard years ago we wouldn't be here."

"If you hadn't protected us we'd be dead now."

"Maybe… I just, I should've said it a long time ago but I'll bet it'll make more sense now anyway. I knew Leah, I knew your Dad too. All they ever wanted was for you 3 to grow up and be happy. You've all come so far…not everybody could get back up again after what you witnessed and I know they were proud of you. Frank tried he just didn't have a way to get through to you three. Frankly I wouldn't have either… as you already know McGee I'm better off without technology."

McGee laughed.

"Speaking of which…" Gibbs said throwing his cellphone for Reid to catch. "Make the ringer thing work."

"It's hard to change the way you lose if you think you've never won, but all we are, we are and every day's a start at something beautiful." – Matthew Nathanson

**THE END**


End file.
